2022-02-16 EMC minutes draft - Laserfiche WebLink

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treatment facility rather than cesspools and septic tanks. So we're going to continue facilitating between private wastewater facilities and our constituents, our communities. Regarding landfill fees, we are trying to figure out how we could generate more revenue to be able to offset the cost of business. I know PAYT came about maybe in 2007, and it was turned down, nobody wanted it. He was going through old reports the Department had. And so we probably need to bring this back to life or set up a system because we cannot continue with the status quo. To continue with status quo and expect different results is the definition of insanity. We have to start looking at different ways. Otherwise we're not going to achieve different results if we stay within the status quo. The good thing is we did the interviews for the Solid Waste Division Chief and it seemed like we had really great candidates. We have been fortunate the two met the qualifications and exceeded it. But we haven't yet made the decision. But I that would be a great asset to the Department as we select the Chief, because they're going to come in with also great experience for, just the Solid Waste Division to navigate through collection, curbside collection versus PAYT. But we need to change the system we have to improve on it, of course, to better the service that our customers expect. So that's some of the updates I gave you guys, a lot of updates on the wastewater in Hilo and the priority. So that kind of adds to that director's report. But if you guys have any questions, I'll be more than happy to entertain any that you may have. b. Wai‘ōhinu Transfer Station (McIntosh) Director Mansour said we inherited numerous problematic contracts. For Wai‘ōhinu Transfer Station, construction was 20 percent complete, design was 60 percent complete, and the contract actually ended in February. And they are waiting on us to decide to continue moving with the same contract, which is a mess. Four years and only 20 of construction complete is unacceptable. So he is revisiting that and we need to revisit the idea of what's good for that district. Unfortunately, the habit of this Department was getting in to sign a contract and not understanding the end goal of the contract. We need to get back into the planning aspect of things. We need to have a road map. We cannot sign contracts without understanding what the end goal is going to be. So our goal is we need to do a plan. We've been talking to Council Chair Maile David on preference for that district, on maybe finding a way either in Wai‘ōhinu or Ocean View to build a more centralized transfer station similar to the Hilo facility, where that district everybody goes to that transfer station, and it becomes the hub for commercial and residential, and then it moves to WHSL. That makes more sense than keep spending millions of dollars on not having a road map. That's true for the Ocean View site. There was a plan to build up Ocean View, and we spent money to improve that roadway, and they put roadway improvements to the facility based on DOT requirements. We need to sit down with the contractor for Wai‘ōhinu, and see if we can we save that contract just to do what we need to do to get us just to standard operations, and maybe focus on which side is going to be better to become the reload facility for that district, the Wai‘ōhinu side or the Ocean View side. So that's where we add on it. It's a great question, but we need to get back into the planning and creating a road map before we start spending money on contracts. 11